GZJ Game Design
Diamond or Demon
Independent
Tabletop Game
Date
2022/6
CONCEPT
It’s a game about trust. Two players take on the role of two explorers, searching for diamonds on a continent riddled with monsters. Along the way, players can collect tools and learn spells, but they also gradually fall under the influence of demon curses. When the curse accumulates enough, the explorer turns into a demon and attacks his teammate. Do you trust your teammate to move forward together, or do you keep your guard against him? The player's choices affect the outcome of the game.
WHY MADE THIS GAME
The game was inspired by a conversation I had with a friend. After a round of werewolf killing, I asked him, "Hey, don't you think it's a little too much trouble to gather 10 people every time you play Werewolf killing? What if there were only two?" At the time, my friend sneered that if there were only two people involved in a werewolf killing, wouldn't both players know each other's identities from the start? Then the game won't work.
So, in a bit of a huff, I wanted to prove that it was possible for two people to play an identity guessing werewolf killing game as long as I can make the player's identity more dynamic and changing through mechanism. Then I designed the game. During the course of the game, the two players have no direct knowledge of each other's identities and need to determine whether the other is ready to transform into a demon based on their behavior.
RULE
Two players need to cooperate with each other and move through four map cards together to reach the secret chamber where the gems are stored. Players can advance one cell per turn and draw one card. The player opens an event card in a cell to trigger the event, and uses the cards in their hands to equip, summon followers, and cast magic.
There are five curse cards in the deck that the player draws from. When a player has three or more curse cards in his hand, the player becomes a potential demon. In the dark zone, potential demons can transform into real demons and attack another player with curse cards. If the demon successfully kills another player, the demon wins. If the other player survives after the curse card is used up, the demon loses. If you suspect that your companion is a potential demon, you can also kill him or her with equipment or spells. After his death you need to check your partner's cards, if he or she is truly a potential demon then you win, otherwise you will be judged a failure for killing an innocent person.
There is also a environmental boss, the Demon King. He cannot actively attack the player, and the player cannot directly deal damage to him, but the player can reduce the Demon King's hp by killing monsters in the map. The presence of the Demon King increases the strength of the monsters in the map and makes some of the terrain more difficult for the player. After the Demon King's death, players can not only explore the map more easily, but also receive the equipment reward. These devices are not effective against ordinary enemies, but can deal a huge blow to the human transformed demon.
CARD DESIGN
Cards in the game are divided into three categories: events on the map, cards in the player's hand, and npc card stacks. Different types of event cards have different backs, which players can use to decide which event they want to trigger. Players draw cards to acquire equipment, spells, and followers. Of course, they also draw curse cards, and the number of curse cards in a player's hand can affect their behavior, making them less willing to engage enemies and more likely to be trapped in traps and terrain. Npcs appear on the map and the player can interact with them to gain additional power items. The Demon King is also an npc, but you have to defeat him to get his equipment.
cards in player's hand:
These are cards that a player can draw from the deck and equip.
follower
gear
cards from NPC:
These cards can be acquired by trading with NPCS on the map or by defeating the Demon King. These cards have stronger attributes.
CARDS
Demon King’s item
cards in the map:
An event card placed in a cell that can be opened and triggered when the player comes to the cell.
terrain
monster
ITERATE
After several rounds of testing, I improved the game in three ways.
problem:The number of cards is high, the pace is slow, and the curse card cannot be drawn.
solution:I reduced the total number of cards and reduced duplicate cards. The first edition has a total of 80 cards, which contain many duplicate item and spell cards. Not only does this get boring early on, but it makes it hard to draw more than three curse cards late on. This makes the core gameplay of the game less visible. So in the final version, the total number of cards is 47, and the number of duplicate cards is lower.
problem:The Devil Lord is awkward.
solution:I changed the Demon King's mechanics. In the first version of the game, the Demon King has no effect on the elements in the map, and the player needs to deal damage to the Demon King through ranged spells. This leaves even good players with little incentive to kill the Demon King, making it difficult for both players to identify each other based on their behavior toward the Demon King. So I strengthened the link between the Demon King and the map elements and changed the way I dealt damage to the Demon King, making it more likely that players would want to kill him sooner rather than later.
problem:Fighting is boring.
solution: I added a dice roll to the in-game combat and interaction. This allows players to turn the tide of the battle with high risk and high reward. Before this mechanic was introduced, good players were often too weak. Now, even if demon players choose to transform, good players can still fight.